The Missing Piece
by Pensulliwen
Summary: The Promised Day is fast approaching, and everything is in place but one crucial piece; Edward Elric. With people on both sides searching as plans are amended, it becomes increasingly clear that only one person can find him; but what does only Winry know?
1. Missing

**Spoilers:** Through chapter 84 and AU from then on

**Disclaimer:** Thankfully, Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. Whatever actually happens is probably going to be way more interesting than this.

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**The Missing Piece**

**By Allegra**

Winry Rockbell, by nature, was not a nervous person. Most would describe her as a spunky girl, laid back in many respects but passionate about her work beyond belief. She was determined, bordering on headstrong, and though she worried for her friends, they were seldom enough to distract her from her work. So when Winry set down the automail leg she'd been modifying with a defeated sigh to start pacing the length of the room, even Den picked up on the fact that something wasn't right. The canine made a pathetic sound in the back of her throat to display her uncertainty, eyes following her two-legged roommate from the corner of the workshop. Winry barely paused, and Den's whining increased in volume, not appreciating the lack of attention.

"Shush, Den." The blond muttered, a frown tugging at her features as she glanced at the clock. Ten O'two. One minute later than it had been the last time she checked. Winry groaned to herself, resuming her pacing. They should have called. A few hours late would be nothing new, usually they didn't call at all; hours could be attributed to anything from a delayed train to sleeping in. But they weren't a few hours late; they were a few days late now. And they hadn't called to say why.

Winry was not a nervous person, but she had seen enough during the last few months to become a little edgy. The fact that she hadn't been able to leave the house for the past two weeks and was sleeping in the basement was testament to that. She was a hostage in her own home, which, though better than being a hostage in a far less forgiving setting, was nothing if not boring. The irony of the situation didn't slip past her, and she had little in the way of work to keep her mind off of her current situation, as well as that of her friends.

Nellie had begun spending half of her time at the Rockbell house, an intern with Pinako. Winry's childhood friend had always dreamed of being a doctor and it was common knowledge that Pinako had more medical wisdom to share than most of the traveling doctors that passed through; not to mention more time, since her near-retirement. However, what the town did not know was that the primary reason behind Nellie's common visits was to explain why twice as much food was being consumed in the household, when Pinako's granddaughter was still working in Resembool.

Winry bit her bottom lip, trying not to panic. One day wasn't so bad, maybe their train broke down, and the Elrics had never been overly considerate when it came to her distress; Ed probably wouldn't even think to call. By the second day she was starting to really worry, and now… she was in an all-out panic, despite her best attempts at remaining calm. Even their conversation had been strange, beyond the fact that Edward had actually bothered to call; she hadn't really thought much of it at the time, but he had sounded tense. Her frown turned pensive as Winry ran over the short conversation in her mind for what must have been the twentieth time that day.

"_Hello, this is Rockbell Automail, Nellie speaking." Winry recited, shooting her grandmother a look as she said it. Pinako grinned, nodding approvingly._

"_If you want to use her name, you'd best keep up with her attitude. And I don't want you scaring away the few customers I have left." The old woman said before leaving the room. Winry stuck her tongue out after her, rubbing the red spot on her hand where Pinako had smacked her for answering the phone by saying 'yeah, what do you want?' She was bored and worried, and she had the right to be a little snappy!_

"_Hey, Winry? It's me."_

"_Ed?" Winry asked, attention swiveling back to the phone as she recognized his voice. "Rare for you to call."_

"_Yeah, listen Al and I are coming over, okay?"_

"_Um, sure." Winry blinked, surprised, before narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "What exactly did you do to your automail?" _

"_Nothing- look I'll be there soon."_

"_Why, what's wrong?" Winry demanded, utterly mystified both by his words and tone._

"_I'll explain when I get there- our train's leaving now, I have to go." He rushed out._

"_But Ed-" She began._

"_Bye Win." Edward interrupted, followed by a click._

"_Bye." Winry muttered into the dead line, slowly hanging up the phone. What on earth was going on? Edward's voice had sounded almost… scared? Winry shook her head, dismissing the thought. This was Edward. He was always short and to the point; when the point wasn't that he'd wrecked his automail, anyway. Which he apparently hadn't, leading to the question of why they were coming at all. Maybe… She didn't want to allow herself to even consider it, but maybe the brothers had finally gotten their bodies back? Home would be the first place they would come, if they were able, and with Edward in such a rush; well, he would be excited, wouldn't he? Still, something in his voice had seemed off. But then again, he was running late, he was probably just worried that he'd miss his train._

_Shrugging, Winry set to the task of setting up the couch as an extra bed. Edward and Alphonse would explain everything when they arrived. She wondered idly what time their train would get there._

That had been almost four days ago. Winry growled in exasperation, sitting on the still-made couch. Perhaps the brother's past antics had made her paranoid, but even they would have the sense to call if they were this late. She tried vainly to ignore the thought that followed that fact, but couldn't help acknowledging it.

Unless for some reason they were unable to do so.

Winry resumed her pacing.

The Elrics lived dangerous lives, that much Winry knew firsthand. And the more she thought about the call, the stranger it seemed. Edward said that he would be back after all this "promised day" stuff was over, Winry had a feeling that she would have had some sort of feeling if an epic battle deciding the fate of the world had taken place just a train ride away. Maybe not, all of the activities leading to this had been cloaked in darkness after all, but surely someone would have called her. And considering it was a cool, breezy night following a sunny day with no signs of a coming apocalypse, they probably hadn't lost either. Leaving Winry to the conclusion that whatever face-off they had planned hadn't happened yet.

So then why had Edward actually called her to say he was coming?

The last time she'd seen him he had been hiding in her room (she blushed slightly remembering how close the alchemist had come to seeing her undress), phones could easily be traced; surely Ed knew that. If he wanted to come, why give her forewarning and risk capture? Why would he need to come back at all? Was Greed behind it? She doubted Edward would come back if it meant bringing danger with him, none of this made sense. He was supposed to meet up with Al and go see Hohenheim in Central, had something gone wrong?

Winry growled slightly at the multitude of questions she had no way of answering, resisting the urge to kick the wall in frustration. She was startled out of her reverie by a measured knock on the door. A brief flash of fear crossing her face, she quickly ran to the basement, wrenching the door open and pausing just long enough to close it before all but tripping down the stairs. She pushed aside the equipment blocking what looked like an innocent enough patch of cement, until one looked close enough to detect the slight traces of an alchemic reaction. Winry reached into her toolbox, pulling out a large screw driver and plunging it into a curiously circular dent in the floor. She marveled slightly at Edward for coming up with such an ingenious contraption on his way out the door, grinding her teeth together as she strained to twisted it, a block of what looked like cement popping up to reveal a trap door. The Fullmetal Alchemist wasn't called a child prodigy for nothing. Quickly sliding inside, Winry let the top down and groped blindly for the flashlight, flicking it on as she settled down to wait. Unfortunately, lights and ventilation had not been in said genius's blueprints.

Sighing, Winry mentally went over her plans to install such things, wondering vaguely who had bothered to stop by at such an hour. It was probably just Nellie, or a neighbor requiring Pinako's mechanic skills. Winry drummed her fingers impatiently on the ground; there wasn't much to do to pass the time. The first thing she'd done was lug a flashlight and clock down here, along with a blanket to sit on during particularly long visits from her grandmother's old friends. But considering her air supply was severely limited, she never stayed long; usually the basement was good enough of a hiding place. The exception, they had decided, was with old colleagues who might want to see the workshop, or mysterious late night visitors. So Winry waited as patiently as she could to hear Pinako's bony knuckles rap on the door, signaling that all was clear, as she watched the seconds tick away.

The gnawing thought that it could be Ed and Al up there didn't do much for her patience, but they would be proud of her for being cautious. There didn't seem to be much she could do for them at this point, so boredom and anxiety seemed a small price to pay for their peace of mind, knowing she was as safe as she could be. Not that it would matter, if the brothers failed, a traitorous part of her mind pointed out. Winry studiously ignored it, hoping that she could get out soon. Working on Ed's future automail soothed her somewhat, even if the activity wasn't doing its job tonight. It gave her something to focus on, and helped her hang onto the assumption that Ed would be coming back.

The sound of knocking interrupted Winry out of her reverie. That was fast, she thought, reaching for the lever that would release the spring. Probably Nellie, or someone dropping off the parts she had ordered a few weeks ago, though it was getting a bit late for that.

"Winry, you'd best hurry up here; got some guests waiting." Pinako said and Winry heaved herself out, already half-way to the door.

"Guests?" Winry echoed in surprise, before grinning and sprinting past her. How silly of her to worry, they were always fine; Edward would explain everything, and he'd probably have some made-up excuse to accompany it. And Pinako said 'guests', maybe Al was here too, maybe they'd really gotten their bodies back after all! She wrenched open the door, a half-formed greeting falling from her lips before she screeched to a halt. Winry clung to the doorframe, unable to do anything but gape at the two familiar figures in her living room.

"Good evening, Ms. Rockbell." Colonel Roy Mustang said cordially, Lieutenant Hawkeye inclining her head in greeting behind him. Winry blinked, momentarily stunned.

"Where's Ed?" She asked before her mind had quite caught up with her mouth. Panic seared through her as the two soldiers exchanged a look, frowning.

"We were hoping to ask you that." Mustang said at length, turning back to face her. "Fullmetal's been missing for over a week."

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_AN: First chapter and already I'm ending it with a classic "oh noes!" cliffhanger, this is gonna be fun._


	2. Troubled Minds

**Spoilers:** Through about chapter 88 with some AU mixed in. It's mostly going to deviate from the actual plot from there.

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**The Missing Piece**

**Chapter Two:** **Troubled Minds**

It was odd to see the stoic soldiers in civilian clothing, much less to see Riza in a skirt and glasses. Winry guessed that they were probably traveling as a couple, to avoid suspicion, though their dark clothing suggested that they had been moving at night. Try as she might, however, the blond couldn't make herself focus on these things.

"A Week?" Winry echoed numbly. Roy nodded.

"It's hard to say exactly when he disappeared, since we haven't been in direct contact, but he was scheduled to arrive in central eight days ago, and never showed up." He added.

"But I just talked to him four days ago." Winry insisted.

"You talked to him?" The colonel asked in surprise. He smiled tiredly when Winry nodded. "That's good to know, if he's only been out of contact for four days."

"Please tell us exactly what he said, in as much detail as you can remember." Riza requested in a business-like tone, though Winry thought she looked a bit relieved as well.

"Well," Winry paused, rubbing her neck. "He didn't say much, just that he was coming over, which I thought was kind of weird. I mean he was trying to avoid the military, and phones can easily be traced, right?"

"If he was using a military line, yes, though it would be strange for him to be out in the open at a pay phone too." Roy agreed, motioning for her to continue.

"He was in a big hurry, he left before I could ask anything about it. He said he was getting on a train, and…" Winry trailed off, biting her lip worriedly. "I thought he sounded nervous." She said eventually.

"So he did plan on coming here after all." Roy muttered, reaching into his pocket.

"It takes a lot to worry Ed." Winry continued, becoming more panicked by the minute. "He sounded scared, it takes a LOT to scare Ed."

"And it's odd that he would choose to return here, of all places." Roy agreed, withdrawing a crumpled letter from his pocket. "It seems that for whatever reason, he wasn't able to make it; but while Fullmetal is impulsive to a fault, he seldom runs into anything without a back-up plan." He finished, handing the envelope to Winry. She took it apprehensively, noting the torn side.

"We read over it already." Riza confirmed, not apologetically. Winry nodded, slipping the letter out.

"We're hoping that you can shed a little light on it; if he was coming here then it looks like it was meant for you after all. Every alchemist takes their notes in a code, but this isn't one of Fullmetal's usual variety. Rather than a travel brochure, it refers to a number of events from his childhood. Alphonse got a look at this letter before we did; he said that most of them never happened. Or at least, that he didn't remember them." Winry shook her head as she read over the letter.

"They didn't." She confirmed, starting again from the top as she finished it. "Almost none of it; the first couple things I remember, but not the rest."

"Alphonse said that the only things on there he remembered were the first and the third." Riza supplied. Winry glanced back to them, the side of her mouth tugging up in a half-smile in spite of herself.

"Well I wouldn't know about putting a frog in poor Nellie's lunch bag, I can't believe Al would allow that and they never would have done it in front of me; but I remember them transmuting me a doll when I was little. Scared the hell out of me." She recalled with a chuckle. "But number two is true too, once when I was sick Ed picked me some flowers; we were really little, I think that he was under the impression that they would cure me. Still, I doubt that he told Al about it. I'm surprised he wrote that, actually." She said, a puzzled frown tugging at her features. "He hates talking about that stuff, he always gets embarrassed; we almost never talk about those times."

"Can you think of any connection between those three things?" Roy asked. Winry shook her head.

"They were just stupid things we did as kids. Ed convincing Al to play the trouble-maker, them practicing alchemy, Ed doing something sweet without even realizing it; he wrote a couple things about us playing hide and seek in here too. I never got sick from playing it with them in the snow, but that happened to Al once."

"Are all of them based on true stories like that?"

"No, just one other." Winry said, skimming through the letter once more. She glanced up to see the two looking at her expectantly. "Oh, the one about me, ah, not realizing he was in the shower and… yeah. Number twelve." She muttered, reddening as she kept her gaze trained on the paper. She thought she heard a snicker. "I cannot even believe he wrote that. He made it sound worse than it was! It was at the outside shower, he was clothed."

"Isn't that the last account?" Riza asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Winry said, looking back to confirm it. "Right, after that it just talks about the library in central burning down."

"So it's fair to say that that one would jump out at you?"

"Yes." Winry grumbled. Where did he get off disappearing and then making that up! That time hadn't actually been an accident anyway, but she wasn't about to admit that after what he'd written (how many people had read this?!). The only time she'd walked in on him showering once they were old enough to know the difference was after she forced his watch open. Was that what he wanted her to think about? He'd said that not even Al knew about it, and… oh.

"Wow, he really doesn't give me any credit at all." Winry sighed. The two soldiers looked at her questioningly. She hesitated a moment, wary of confessing Edward's biggest secret. This was what he wanted her to do, right? He would forgive her if it wasn't; she didn't care if he never spoke to her again if it meant that they were closer to finding him. Besides, there was no way he could be hinting towards anything else, it was too obvious.

"I think he's talking about when I stole his pocket watch, there was something engraved it in." She said finally, unable to shake the feeling of betrayal. "I don't really see why though."

"What did it say?" Roy pressed. Winry sighed, looking down.

"October 3rd, year 11." She answered. She didn't clarify when they glanced at her curiously, they could figure it out.

"The day they burned their house down." Riza realized. Winry nodded stiffly. This had to be what he wanted.

"Hard to miss, with the line about a fire in the next paragraph."

"If you knew what the watch said and the significance of the story, it does seem pretty obvious." Roy agreed. He looked back to Winry, frowning. "But only you would have known that, why would he want to bring you into this?" Winry shrugged helplessly.

"Maybe he couldn't think of another code?" She suggested.

"Unlikely. Still, we don't know what significance that date has to where he is now. Did you notice anything else in it?"

"No." She answered. Roy sighed.

"Hang onto it and call this number if you find anything." He said, searching for a pen until Riza produced one with an amused smile. "It's Gracia's, she'll relay the message to us if it's not too late."

"Alright." Winry said, taking the number before realizing that they were leaving. "Wait!" She exclaimed, panicking slightly as she moved forwards to stop them. "What's going on with everyone else, how's Alphonse? When is the Promised Day, how much danger is Ed in? Can you do whatever you have to do without him?"

Roy paused at the door, not bothering to look back at her when he spoke.

"Ms. Rockbell, I'll be frank. I have a rebellion to lead in Central two days from now, I wouldn't be here if this wasn't a significant concern. I haven't spoken to Alphonse personally, but from what I've heard, he's doing fine. When the Promised Day is all depends on whether the homunculi's plan can go on without Edward or not. If so, then it will be in four days. If not, we'll see. This is assuming, of course, that they haven't simply captured him ahead of time to make sure he comes. That's what I originally thought had happened, but the fact that he called you four days ago makes that seem less likely. If he's with them, then the plan basically remains the same. If not, he's got half of Central and probably a hoard of homunculi looking for him as well; I have no idea where he could hide."

The Colonel finally turned and gave her what looked like an attempt at a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it, our allies know what they're doing, and so do we. Fullmetal wouldn't be the first of us to sneak something past the homunculi. I can't promise that I'll let you know if we find him, but he and Alphonse will be back here as soon as they can be."

_If they can be._

"Alright. Thank you, Colonel." Winry replied. Riza rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder, sharing a smile with her before following Mustang out the door.

_If they can be._

"Quite a commotion." Pinako noted, startling Winry. Her grandmother had remained uncharacteristically quiet throughout the conversation, she had almost forgotten that the older woman was there.

"Yeah. They'll be fine though, they always are. Didn't you have anything to ask?" Winry questioned curiously. She hadn't expected to have a chance to speak to an informant before the battle, she would have kept them there hours asking questions if she could have. Edward had basically explained the situation to her a couple months ago, but there was still so much she didn't know. It seemed like even the brothers still had a lot of questions. Besides, who knew what had changed since then?

"No, if they don't know where the boys are then I don't care much what they're up to. We'll find out soon enough I imagine." Pinako sighed. "Though I'd like to know what exactly old Hohenheim has to do with all this."

"He seemed well when I saw him." Winry mused, not completely clear on it herself.

"I don't worry about his health. You should get some sleep before you faint on your feet, you're not looking so well."

"Just a bit shell-shocked." Winry said with a small smile, pulling the blanket and pillow off the couch as she made her way back to the basement. Sleep, however, eluded her, and she spent the better part of the night pouring over the letter, flashlight in hand, searching for any hidden meaning she might have missed.

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Envy exhaled loudly, bored out of his mind since returning from his last search. Laying on his back on the cold cement floor, he idly tapped his feet against one of the many coils of wire sustaining his creator. With Greed dead (the new, less amusing one on the run) and the Pipsqueak missing, there was simply no one play with- or torture to the brink of insanity when Father wasn't looking. It was quite the attestation to his boredom that he missed pummeling Greed. Added to the fact that the proximity of the Promised Day had made Father especially cautious, prohibiting even a few mysterious disappearances in town (like anyone would miss the scrawny little rats), Envy found himself feeling quite caged. He liked to think it wasn't punishment for spending months being carries around in a glass jar by a girl about half the height of his _human _form. Envy's ears perked up as he heard footsteps, but he made no move to get up, even when they stopped right next to him.

"Any sign of him?" A deep voice asked at length.

Envy glanced up lazily to see King Bradley looking down at him.

"Ah, the president returns." He said cheerfully, raising himself to a sitting position. Wrath nodded in acknowledgement. Frowning slightly at the prospect of his first visitor being about as talkative as Sloth, Envy continued. "No sight of him in Central, though the Flame Alchemist left for Dublith about a week after you did- no sign of him there I presume?"

Bradley shook his head.

"His teacher hasn't returned either." He added as Envy sighed heavily.

"No, and Kimbley lost Alphonse too- he regrouped with Hohenheim; probably be back though."

"It's the elder Elric I'm worried abou- Envy, where's Father?" Bradley asked, peering around the large throne to find it vacant.

"Out." He replied, shrugging. Wrath's visible eye narrowed. "Didn't say where." Envy added. "I know, we're running quite low on pawns. At least Fatso's back."

"About that." The president ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "I just received a report from Kimbley, that's the reason I came down here in the first place."

"Don't tell me he's dead already." Envy asked incredulously.

"Pride apparently had a bit of trouble against Alphonse, he absorbed Gluttony during the battle."

Envy's expression was somewhere between revulsion and disbelief.

"But Father _just _brought him back!"

"I know. I doubt he'll be happy."

Envy rolled his eyes, settling back on the floor.

"Well that's one less tracker at our disposal, and Kimbley's far too enthusiastic about explosions to send on that sort of mission. Is Sloth still building that tunnel?"

"So far as I know." Bradley said evenly, pulling up his coat sleeve to glance at an expensive looking watch.

"Board meeting?" Envy asked sardonically.

"Yes, actually. When Father gets back-"

"I'll pass on the message." Envy interrupted, growing tired of the formalities. Bradley nodded his appreciation and turned to leave. Ignoring him, Envy returned to tracing a particularly large cable.

"Lust, Greed, and now Gluttony again." He muttered to himself, counting them off on his fingers. "Even keeping Pride on his toes." He frowned, remembering how close he'd come to losing his own life a few months before. It hardly mattered now, with the Promised Day so close at hand, but if they were able to deconstruct Philosopher's Stones…

"I don't like those numbers." He muttered to himself, settling in to wait for Father's return.

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_AN: Was hit by inspiration a minute after uploading_ Stumbling Forward_! Sorry if the random anime/manga crossover with the shower scene pissed anyone off, I wrote that bit late at night and was onto the next chapter before I realized the screw-up. Didn't feel it was important enough to fix, but if it makes you happy, imagine that I wasn't lazy and the made-up childhood story had to do with giving birth instead. See that just doesn't work quite as well._


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